My Life in a Box
First, I think a short introduction is in order before I begin. I am a university student. I live in a city of about 750,000 people that has a large Mennonite population, but in addition to that, I live in the ‘Mennonite suburb’ of the city, where Mennonite churches are found every block and everyone is related to their neighbors. I am Mennonite, and proud of it:). And I have now officially, after many months of reading the articles but not participating, joined YAR. Upon the recommendation of my good friend ST, I accessed this site and found myself part of a community much different than my own.
When I began reading the articles on YAR, I did not know what to expect. ‘Young Anabaptists’ I understood. But ‘Radicals’? Weren’t those just our ancestors, people from years ago who fought for a bible in the vernacular, for the believers baptism and for a right not to enter combat? We don’t still have ‘radicals’ now do we? By this point, I can only imagine what many of you are thinking based on my naive and ignorant questions. However, I currently find myself within a community, a church family and a school environment that is, sadly, apathetic. With so many resources accessible for me to access global news, with so many protests, rallies and demonstrations happening to raise awareness for good causes, and with so many people around me suffering from my ignorance, why is that I rarely feel compelled to do something? I have participated in missions trips, I have spent time in the inner city with homeless people and prostitutes and I attend a University right in the middle of the most impoverished area of the city, and yet I have managed to remain in my bubble, separating myself from the things that are too difficult to acknowledge.